Bhubaneswar/Bahanaga: Seven employees have been suspended from their services in connection with the horrific train accident that took place on June 2 evening near Bahanaga Bazaar railway station of Odisha’s Balasore and claimed the lives of at least 294 people and injured around 1,175 others.

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“Principal Chief Safety Officer (PCSO) placed the seven staff under suspension for dereliction of duty after the CBI probe team arrested three of them, so far. Railway Administration took the step for lack of alertness of Bahanaga Bazaar station master, traffic inspector and maintainer. The tragic train mishap could have been averted had they been alert during duty hours,” South Eastern Railway (SER) General Manager Anil Kumar Mishra said today while briefing mediapersons on his visit to Odisha.

General Manager Mishra along with Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) and MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi visited the Bahanaga Bazaar, Balasore and Gopinathpur railway stations earlier in the day.

Worth mentioning, the three arrested – senior section engineer (Signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, section engineer Mohammed Amir Khan and technician Pappu Kumar have been taken on another four-day remand by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), following the end of a five-day remand.

An inquiry report of the Commissioner of Railway Safety, South Eastern Circle mentioned that the tragic train accident occurred due to lapses in the signaling circuit alteration, which was carried out earlier.